Sunday, February 28, 2010

If you live in Southie and are supportive of Fenway Bark, we encourage you to come to the Tynan School at 6:30 pm on March 1, 2010 to share your views. The Tynan School is located at 650 E. Fourth Street, South Boston.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

When meeting door-to-door with the neighbors recently, a neighbor raised concerns about an underground storage tank (UST) from a previous business in the building. The landlord has taken all the responsible measures to ensure any UST risks have been addressed. Please see the document below for the details.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

On March 1, 2010 at 6:30 pm we will be holding a follow up meeting to the December neighborhood meeting at the Tynan School in South Boston. At that meeting we will be reviewing the operational changes that we have made to our business plan to minimize the impact of the business on our neighbors.

Fenway Bark has listened to neighborhood concerns and responded. Please find below a letter that was recently sent to each of the individual neighbors and to the neighborhood leadership.

Dear Ward 6 Neighbor,

I really love dogs. Ask friends and family and they will tell you that I have had a gift of working with animals since I was a little girl. Animals have always been an important part of my life whether I was doing rescue work, raising money for an animal charity, or simply caressing a dog on my lap while cheering on the Red Sox. Dogs, in particular, have taught me a lot over the years.

My dogs have taught me about welcoming another into the pack. Sometimes it isn't an immediate embrace and there is some initial growling, but they realize that the new member of the pack has something to offer. My dogs have also taught me that sometimes the ball goes over the fence but if you really want to play, you have to communicate that someone needs to get the ball back to keep the game going. And finally, among many lessons they have taught me is to perk up my ears and listen and then respond appropriately.

I hope these are lessons we can all learn from dogs that will be applicable to bringing Fenway Bark Stay.Play.Heal. to your neighborhood.

Pack Acceptance:

Let's face it: because the city made errors in their permit process and this is my first attempt opening a business and not knowing any better, a permit was issued to us and we didn't know anything was wrong. We, literally, had the checklist from the City on how to open a business in the City of Boston on our desk and were going through it step by step. We followed the process, received the permit, reached out to Casey Hines in October and began scheduling a meeting to introduce ourselves to you. The permit was a surprise to you and the Stop Work order was a surprise to us. The neighborhood meeting morphed into something quite different than originally planned.

Sometimes the Ball Goes Over the Fence:

We can't change what has happened and we hope you understand that we simply didn't know about the IPOD and ISD didn't inform us of any issues. They told our lawyers that the building wasn't in the IPOD and issued a permit accordingly. Regardless of what happened, we learned a lot about process and about you at the neighborhood meeting. We learned about your concerns and your needs.

Listen and Respond:

We heard at the meeting that you have concerns and needs. The steps we have taken to alleviate your concerns:

Noise:

1) We have eliminated the outdoor play area.

2) We will be conducting a noise study between now and the ZBA hearing. If the noise of the business is audible outside, we will put remediation measures in place to reduce the sound. Unlike other buildings in the area, 630 E. Second Street is a fortress: 12 - 18" concrete walls, 24" concrete ceilings, and an 18" concrete floor.

3) We will have a very thorough screening process for dogs that stay at Fenway Bark. If a dog is a menacing barker, they won't be repeat guests. It is that simple. For the health and mental serenity of all the dogs staying at Fenway Bark, an incessant barker is just not tolerable.

4) The dogs will be exercised all day long and a tired dog is generally a quiet dog.

Odor:

1) We will be installing a top of the line wet/dry vacuum throughout the building. This vacuum system will allow for the immediate clean up, sanitizing and disposal of liquid dog waste. The Boston Water and Sewer Commission have reviewed the operation and materials used with the vacuum and has given the vacuum its seal of approval to be emptied into the sewer system.

2) We will have Doody Calls pick up solid waste no fewer than 3 times a week. Waste will be stored in barrels in an 8 x 8 foot cement room inside of the building until it is time for pick up. We have also contracted with Doody Calls to pick up the entire City block from K to I along 1st and 2nd Street.

3) Most importantly, if there is a bad odor in the building, we will be out of business shortly after we open. Simply put, people don't want to bring smelly dogs home after a day at work. The "play" and "stay" areas have to be kept clean and sanitized for our human and canine guests.

Traffic and Parking:

1) We have flipped the business model so that there is "no entrance on the Second Street side". We will have the entrance on the First Street side including deliveries.

2) Parking will be on site through the 553 E. First Street entrance.

3) Employees and customers will park either in the 553 E. First Street lot or will be provided paid parking elsewhere.

Hours:

1) We have cut back the hours to 6:30 am to 8 pm. These hours will accommodate working people who need to drop off and pick up their dogs or buy supplies before and after work.

2) We have eliminated late night hours and pick up.

We will be reaching out to you in person over the coming two weeks to show you our floor plan and answer any questions or remaining concerns you may have. With competition in the market, we will not be releasing our floor plans to the public.

I hope that the changes we have made to our business model show you that we want to be a good neighbor, provide services that the community requires, and create jobs that are needed to get people back to work.

I look forward to meeting you soon. We want to part of South Boston and hope we can meet your concerns and win your support.